Cincinnati Opera has launched a new event series called “Underscore,” running March through May 2026, designed to explore opera through theatrical, social, and cultural perspectives tied to the company’s 2026 Summer Festival repertoire.

The series opened March 3 with “The Importance of Being Oscar,” an original one-act play by Evans Mirageas and Audrey Chait that dramatizes Oscar Wilde’s first visit to Cincinnati in 1882—before he wrote “Salome,” later adapted by Richard Strauss. The piece imagines an interview between Wilde and a journalist, featuring Douglas Fries as Wilde and Chris Logan Carter as the Interviewer, alongside soprano Heidi Middendorf, tenor Jack Keller, and pianist Matthew Umphreys.

The series continues April 21 with “Carmen’s Revenge—An Operatic Murder Mystery,” an interactive experience set after the conclusion of Bizet’s “Carmen.” Audiences engage with characters and live performances of excerpts from the score while working through a fictional mystery storyline. The series concludes May 7 with “The Afrofuturist Salon,” a gathering inspired by the company’s new Afrofuturist opera Lalovavi. The evening features conversation centered on Afrofuturism and identity, with participation from librettist Tifara Brown and University of Cincinnati Africana Studies professor Cassandra Jones, followed by a DJ set with spoken word elements.

Source: OperaWire